Chapter 2:
McGee was sitting at his desk, tracing the handprint in the paperweight that Sarah had made for him.
"Hey." Ziva called. "You OK?"
He looked at her, but didn't answer.
Just then, DiNozzo came around the corner, and McGee quickly turned to his computer and began typing something.
DiNozzo looked from McGee to Ziva, certain he had just missed something. He set his coffee down and stared from one to the other as he walked around his desk.
His curiosity was piqued by the fact that they both refused to make eye contact with him. He pulled out his chair and inspected it, looking for booby traps, before sitting down.
He stared at McGee as he slowly sat down. When he realized the chair hadn't been tampered with, he relaxed and sat back.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"Just…Monday morning blues." Ziva replied.
He turned to her and looked at her for a few seconds. She still refused to make eye contact with him.
"Monday morning blues, huh?" He repeated. "I can see why McGeek would have them. But you know how to have fun on the weekend."
Ziva just shrugged.
"Is somebody having a dry spell?" DiNozzo chuckled. "I have some friends if you need any phone numbers."
"Please." Ziva was astonished. "The day I need to date one of your friends is the day McGee dates a supermodel."
"Hey." McGee interrupted.
"Sorry." Ziva told him.
"Suit yourself." DiNozzo replied smugly as he leaned forward and logged in to his computer. "I just think it's unfair that I was the only one to get some action this weekend."
"Was she breathing?" Ziva asked.
"Was she human?" McGee threw in.
"Hey." DiNozzo cut them off as they exchanged glances. "A little respect, please. She was a very beautiful nurse…and she was just what the Doctor ordered." He said, looking at the ceiling.
"I thought the medical profession banned you." Ziva retorted.
DiNozzo just gave her a steely-eyed gaze.
"That was cold, Probie." He said. "Haven't you learned by now that some subjects are off limits?"
"DiNozzo. The only subject that's off limits with you," Gibbs said as he came around the corner, "is silence. Let's roll."
They all grabbed their bags and headed for the elevator.
"What's the call?" DiNozzo asked as the doors closed.
"Skeleton found in an off post housing area." Gibbs replied.
"How does that fall under our jurisdiction?" McGee asked.
"The house is rented by a Marine…and the skeleton was discovered by a Navy Dependent."
When they arrived, the police already had the area taped off.
Gibbs showed his badge to the officer that approached them.
"What you got." He asked as he took a drink from his coffee cup.
"This is a weird one, sir." The officer replied. "A Marine and his wife wake up this morning to discover a woman in their backyard. The woman had dug a hole and unearthed a box similar to those used as ammunition crates, inside of which was the skeleton of a child…at least, judging by the size of it."
"Does she have a name?" Gibbs asked.
"We couldn't determine the gender of it, sir, let alone the identity." The officer replied.
"I mean the woman who dug the hole." Gibbs said. It was way too early to go through this. And on a Monday, too?
"The woman does not have any identification on her." Was the reply.
"I was told she was a Navy dependant." Gibbs said. "How was that determined if we don't know her name?"
"The car she was driving is registered to one Leslie Garrett. In trying to locate her family, we discovered that her father is Admiral Michael Garrett. We assumed that it is her, but we haven't made a positive ID yet."
"Great." Gibbs replied. He really hated Mondays.
McGee walked up to the hole and started taking pictures while Ziva went inside to talk with the Marine.
"Where is the woman who dug the hole?" DiNozzo asked the police officer.
"Taken to the hospital." Was the reply.
"Was she injured?" Gibbs asked.
"Welllll. Not physically." The cop said. "But all she was doing was sitting next to the hole, mumbling something like "They won't hurt you anymore."…we thought it best to have her checked out. That's why we went out of our way to try and locate some family."
DiNozzo nodded.
"Get some prints off the car and run them through McGee's little…doohickey." Gibbs told him. "If she is an Admiral's daughter, she should be in the system."
"On it, Boss." DiNozzo replied and headed to the car.
"We already told the police officer everything we know." The Marine told Ziva.
"We like to conduct our own investigation." Ziva said.
"Well." He began. "We got up; my wife went to the kitchen while I got dressed. She called me out and pointed the person out; I grabbed a bat and went outside, where I found the hole and the girl. When I saw the skull, I yelled for her to call 911."
"Have you ever seen her before?" Ziva asked.
They both shook their heads.
"How long have you been living here?"
"I was stationed here about six months ago." The Marine said. "We moved into this house the first week."
"Alright." Ziva handed them a card. "Thank you. If you think of anything else, please give me a call."
"Yes, Ma'am." The Marine said.
"Lance Corporal Gerald Hitchcock." Ziva told Gibbs.
"Hitchcock?" Gibbs interrupted, smiling.
"Yes." Ziva replied. "Do you know him?"
"No." Gibbs said. "Just amusing…Guy named Hitchcock has a skeleton dug up in his back yard."
"I do not see what the amusement is." Ziva told him.
"Ask DiNozzo." Gibbs laughed. "He's gonna drive us crazy until we solve this."
"He and his wife have been living here for approximately six months." Ziva continued. "They have never seen the woman who dug the hole before." She paused and looked around. "Where is she, by the way?"
"Hospital." Gibbs answered.
"Was she injured?"
"Police were worried about her." Gibbs shrugged as Ducky walked up.
"Good Morning, Jethro." He said. "I trust you had an enjoyable weekend."
"The usual." Gibbs said.
"I enjoyed a wonderful opera on Saturday." Ducky told him. "Richard Strauss' "Salome"."
"That's the one with the "Dance of the Seven Veils", is it not?" Jimmy asked.
"Why, Mr. Palmer." Ducky turned to him. "I am impressed. There may be hope for you yet."
"Is there hope for our victim, Duck?" Gibbs asked.
"Since I have been called," Ducky told him, "I would say the chances are slim."
Gibbs just stared at him as Jimmy laughed.
"You know what?" Jimmy said after a few seconds. "I'm gonna go look at the body."
As Jimmy walked off, Gibbs turned to Ducky.
"Not much there." He said. "A skeleton in a box. We could have brought it to you."
"I never miss a chance to get out of the office, Jethro." Ducky replied as he started off after Jimmy. "Especially after a rain storm. The aroma of freshly watered foliage does wonders to lift the spirits."
Gibbs just stared after him.
"Boss?" McGee walked up with the camera hanging around his neck and the fingerprint processor in his hands. "The rain destroyed most of the evidence at the hole, so I wasn't able to get fingerprints from the shovel or box, but the prints from the car confirm the woman to be Leslie Garrett, daughter of Admiral Garrett."
"Great." Was all Gibbs said; on top of everything else, their prime suspect was an Admiral's daughter.
He really hated Mondays.
That afternoon.
"Lance Corporal Gerald Hitchcock and his wife have been living in the house for about six months." DiNozzo briefed. "Disappointing, actually. It would have been…poetic justice…to have been able to pin the remains on him." He cocked his head. "Maybe I'll still bring him in for questioning…just be safe. But can anyone really be safe with a guy named "Hitchcock" walking the streets? Just to be sure, I think I'll run a blood spatter test on his show…" He jumped when Gibbs slapped him in the back of the head. "Sorry, Boss."
"The house has had numerous owners through the years, and has been used as a rental property for the past five." McGee picked up. "Significantly, it was owned by then Commander Garrett in the mid nineties. Records show he and his family lived there from '92-'96, while he was assigned to Bethesda."
"Records also show only one child, Leslie." Ziva picked up. "Wife, Crystal, died in 2004 of Cancer, but he remarried to current wife, Julie, in 2008…they have not had any children together."
"Assuming that Leslie was present and/or knew about the burial," Tony concluded, "she would have been from eight to twelve years old when it occurred."
Gibbs looked up to see Vance staring at him, then head to his office…He headed up the stairs.
"Call the hospital and get on update on the daughter." Gibbs called down. "I want to know when I can talk to her."
"I still think we should dig deeper into Hitchcock's past." DiNozzo said after Gibbs was gone.
"Tony." Ziva replied. "We know he had nothing to do with it."
"He might be innocent…this time." DiNozzo countered. "But, if we dig deep enough, who knows what other skeletons we might find…and I mean that literally."
Ziva looked over at McGee, who rolled his eyes as he picked up the phone and called the hospital.
"Mother!" Tony said in his best Anthony Perkins imitation, then furled his brow and cocked his head. "Maybe we should look at Hitchcock's mother."
"Enough!" Ziva and McGee screamed in unison.
"Please tell me that an Admiral in the United States Navy is not a murder subject." Vance greeted.
"That would be a bit premature, since we haven't even determined cause of death yet." Gibbs replied. "But I would like to know why the child was buried in his yard…and why there is no record of it."
"You'll get your chance to ask him tomorrow." Vance told him. "I have asked him to come in."
"Leon…" Gibbs began.
"And until you have a solid reason to do otherwise." Vance interrupted. "You will treat him with the respect that a person of his rank deserves."
"Are you telling me how to run my investigation?" Gibbs demanded.
"Not at all." Vance replied. "But I am telling you that Admiral Garrett is not to be treated like your normal suspects…assumed guilty until proven innocent."
"If you don't like how I conduct my investigations…" Gibbs began.
"You would have already heard about it." Vance interrupted again. "This isn't about how you handle your normal cases."
"Then what is it about." Gibbs demanded.
"It's about a man who is considered to be the top contender for the next Navy Chief of Staff." Vance answered. "He has a lot of influence in this town, and I want solid evidence before we accuse him of anything."
"Like I said." Gibbs retorted. "I don't even know what crime, if any, has been committed…yet. But, just to let you know, I'm not going to treat this investigation any differently…it will go wherever the evidence takes me."
Vance watched as Gibbs stormed out of the office.
"What you got, Duck." Gibbs demanded.
"Do I detect an angry tone?" Ducky inquired. When Gibbs just stared at him, he continued. "Not much, I'm afraid…The skeleton is that of a female child, less than two years old."
"That's it?" Gibbs asked.
"No apparent bone injuries." Ducky added. "Such as a broken neck or spine."
"I thought she was holding the skull when they found her." Gibbs observed.
"Correct." Ducky told him. "However, the individual bones, themselves, show no signs of trauma, such as fracturing, that would have occurred from such an injury."
"Is there anything you can give me?" Gibbs asked.
"It is so decayed, I'm afraid cause of death is out of the question." Ducky replied.
Gibbs stared at the skeleton for a few seconds before leaving.
"What you got, Abbs." He said.
"A splitting headache." Abby replied.
They just stared at each other.
"I mean the body." He corrected.
She looked down at herself for a few seconds before realizing what he meant.
"Oh." She replied, turning to her computer. "Still working on DNA. Unfortunately, the DNA is so degraded, that I can't run a RFLP, PCR, or STR analysis, which all require nuclear DNA, which breaks down rapidly when exposed to the environment. Of the viable DNA samples I was able to find, there was so little usable available, that I had to run a test using a method created by the "Bode Technology Group" after 9/11, which uses a smaller sample than normal, but also takes longer, it will take a day or two to get the results back. I'm also hoping to find a large enough sample to run a mitochondrial analysis…which doesn't require nuclear DNA, but by itself is less informative. It will allow me to at least tell you whether or not the skeleton is related to Leslie Garrett."
Gibbs just stared at her.
"Right now, I can't tell you who the body is…or who she was related to." She simplified.
Gibbs just sighed and headed to the elevator, then paused at the door and turned back to her.
"You doing OK?" He asked.
She just shrugged.
"If either of you need anything…you have my number." He said.
"Thank you." She smiled.
He turned and headed to the elevator.
"Talk to me." Gibbs ordered as he exited the elevator.
"Hospital has a forty-eight hour "no visitors" policy." McGee replied. "They are willing to make an exception…but only to twenty-four hours…I informed them we would be there tomorrow morning."
"Take Rachel with you." Gibbs ordered and DiNozzo picked up the phone to call her.